Desert Wanderings- Numbers 1-36
Notes
- After the Golden calf
Israel’s sin was so grave that it required what amounted to a second legislation. The Ten Commandments had been a moral law, but this second law is judicial and ceremonial, involving the punishment of criminals and the rules for animal sacrifice. This second legislation deals with Israel’s fallen condition after the golden calf affair. It takes the rest of Exodus (chapters 33-40), all of the Book of Leviticus and the first ten chapters of Numbers, to explain.
- Travel to the promised land
Numbers tells the story of the second generation of Israel’s travails on the way to the promised land. The children of those who came out of Egypt are now more unfaithful than their parents. Finally they are condemned to wander forty years, "suffering for [their] faithlessness" (see Numbers 14:33-34).
Even amid their backsliding, God was giving us signs of the Redeemer He will one day send:
Moses hoists up the bronze serpent to heal the faithless Israelites, giving us a sign of the Cross (see Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14).
And the mercenary prophet, Balaam, sent to trick the Israelites, is used by God to deliver a prophecy that a star shall rise over Jacob and the staff of leadership will rise from Israel. We remember this prophecy in the Liturgy during the Christmas season, as we associate Balaam’s star with that followed by the Magi (see Numbers 24:15-17; Matthew 2:1-12).
The unfaithfulness of the second generation, though, culminates on the eastern border of the Promised Land, in the plains of Moab. There Israel is seduced and worships Baal of Peor, a Moabite god (see Numbers 25).
Note the similarities between this story and the story of the golden calf (see Exodus 32). The worship of the false god is accompanied by ritual immorality and is punished with a mass slaughter of Israelites. In the golden calf incident, the Levites distinguished themselves by their swords and zeal. Here, a certain Levite, Phinehas, also takes up the sword in his zeal, slaying an idolatrous couple. He earns the line of high-priesthood - "the pledge of an everlasting priesthood" (see Numbers 25:13).
Summary
- After the Golden calf
- Travel to the promised land
Questions
1. How many men were sent as spies?
2. How many days were spent spying?
3. What were the two report given to Moses?
4. Why were the Isrealites not successful in the first attempt to enter the promised land?
5. Why did the Isrealites wander for forty years in the desert?
6. What was the sin Moses and the people committed at Meribah?
7. How is the bronze serpent a type of the salvation process?
8. Balaam was hired to curse the Isrealites, what happened to the curses?
Bibliography
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